"Who said I am tired and retired. I feel young when I teach Hindi to my students," says 81-year-old Hindi Pandit V S Sivaprakasam.

Sivaprakasam of Kumarasa mipettai walks at least 10 km a day to teach Hindi to aspirants at their doorsteps.

He learnt Hindi during the stormy years of agitation by Dravidian parties against Hindi and started teaching at the age of 18. Over the years, he has taught more than 15,000 students which include several MPs and MLAs, besides hundreds of disciples from various professions.

He starts the teaching session from his house at 7 a.m and continue till late in the night. Though the officials and business people offer huge amounts as fees he collects only a nominal amount. Though he had crossed 80, he'is comfortable to read without the help of spectacles.

After deserted by his children, the efforts to manage an old age pension also met with the same fate.